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Craigslist Scam Hits Close to Home

Update 5/29/2007: We received a friendly e-mail from the folks at Western Union, directing users to this page, which gives a wealth of info that should help protect users against potential fraud.

I love Craigslist, I really do. I've found furniture, apartments, even jobs on the site. Somehow, though, despite the good deal of time I've spent checking out listings, I've never actually visited the Avoiding Scams and Fraud page. Yeah, I know, I know.

Another PC Mag staffer confessed this morning that he'd managed to avoid the page for this long, as well. After his experience yesterday, however, it seems pretty safe to say that he, myself, and everyone else within earshot of his horror story will be well acquainted with the page's content before attempting any further transactions on the Web's most popular classifieds site--or any other e-commerce site, for that matter.

As he told his tale in front of horrified onlookers this morning, he opened the page to show us. It was all there. At the top, in bold, capped, highlighted text: DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one simple rule and you will avoid 99% of the scam attempts on craigslist.

And then the next two bullet points:

• NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service - anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
• FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.

Further down the page, Craigslist goes into greater detail--we'll spare you the rest. It's all up there, and honestly, if you patronize Craigslist or any other e-commerce site, at all, you owe it to yourself to familiarize yourself with the page's contents. In retrospect, it seems obvious where he went wrong--but honestly, while it's occurring, it's all too easy to miss the red flags. Our colleague agreed to share with us the heartbreaking details of his experience, so that Appscout readers might avoid the same unfortunate fate.

This PC Mag staffer--let's call him PC Member X--went on Craigslist to sell a used bass guitar for $550, having recently purchased a new one. An hour or two after posting the ad, PCMX received the following eager response:

Hey,

ur ad caught my attention and may i know if the item on the ad still available[...]

Other than the obvious grammatical inaccuracies (this is e-mail, after all), the response seemed legit. The buyer soon agreed to pay for the bass via certified check. Of course, knowing the outcome of the story, the next step is all too obvious--the transaction came with certain stipulations: First, the "certified check" was made out to an amount greater than the price of the guitar--$2,995. The buyer said he was was a musician, with a manager who gave him a stipend. PCMX could take what he needed from the check, subtract the price of the guitar and any other fees, and wire the remainder back to the buyer. Also, the buyer wouldn't wait longer than two days to receive his change.

PCMX received the certified check. It looked authentic (even the bank thought so). Being in a rush to get the money for the old bass, PCMX wired the cash to the buyer via Western Union.

One further twist--after sending the money, the buyer sent another e-mail:

Bad News is that i thought the shipper picked the money up but on his way to pick it up he had a minor accident.

The buyer then asked that the name on the Western Union transfer be changed. PCMX then waited patiently, finally e-mailing the buyer back to get the shipping address for the instrument.

The e-mail transcripts I received become very one-sided--PCMX sent a few frantic queries, but the story pretty much ends there.

It was a by-the-book scam--word for word what Craigslist warns against. Again, these things seem like a no brainer, until they happen to you. As a result, we have one very depressed staffer on our hands, $2,500 poorer than he was a day before. All we can say is what you've heard a million times before: Read the warnings first. By the time you learn your lesson, it's too late.

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